Carson's 1st Grade Pictures

 

Our big brother is a full-fledged 1st grader, with class photos and all!  And at close to seven, when pictures start to become a little more awkward, Carson is still our photogenic fellow. 

 

Could it have something to do with the fact that he's had a photo obsessed mom putting a camera in his face since birth?? 

 

 

Possibly.

 





 

We love, love, love his teacher this year too! You can tell she really loves her job and has a ton of energy, even with a class full of six and seven year olds. Carson likes her a lot too, along with all of the friends from his class. He has learned so much like: counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's, reading a ton of sight words, and his handwriting looks so much better. We are only half-way into the school year; I can't wait to see all he can do by summer!

Back to School

Carson is now a first grader!! Still not sure how it is possible, but our big boy just keeps getting bigger.

Carson was thrilled to find out his best friend and neighbor, James, is in his class too! So they are spending just about every waking hour together: bus ride to and from school, during class, lunch, recess, PE, and after school too!Carson loves having his very own desk this year.

He also loves his teacher, Ms. Gilbert, who has already nicknamed him "Cutie Pie Carson." He even brought her a gift for the first day of school full of fruit-themed candy:

I can't wait to see how much Carson learns this year!

Carson's Kindergarten Class Picture

We were fortunate to get Carson's class picture taken at his previous school before he left! (He missed the picture with his new class) They combined both dual language classes, so the class looks HUGE in the picture, but he was able to have both of his teachers in it! And we are excited to see him in the last row (first on the left)! They usually put the taller kids in the back, so must mean he is tall, right?? :)

Writing Night

Carson had writing night at school a few weeks ago, where all the classes displayed their written work in the hallways. We were able to see Carson's teacher, Mrs. Barrington, who was serving cookies and punch.

It is funny how different the boys writing was from the girls! Some of the girls in kindergarten already had better handwriting than me and would write so much on their essays it would overflow onto another page! Carson was a typical boy and wrote a short sentence with handwriting that was still pretty hard to read. We are going to be spending lots of time this summer working on handwriting and adding some detail to his sentences, but nonetheless, I am proud of the progress he has made during his first year of school!

"If I had $100 I would... take it to the bank." - He is a smart little investor!!

Carson's translation: "Dear Mom and Dad, You are the best for letting me do whatever I want. Love, Carson" Ummm, ya...we had a talk about this one...I'm sure his teacher thinks we are parents of the year now!!

"If I were a butterfly...The butterfly tastes nectar with his feet." Glad I'm not a butterfly...

Carson's New School

Carson has transitioned so well into his new school! I think he is most excited to be a 'bus rider.' He has met so many new kids in our neighborhood from riding, every time I look in our backyard after school there is another new child bouncing on our trampoline. Carson is so thrilled about his new ride and friends, that he now insists on riding in the morning too and, to my delight, doesn't even complain about waking up!

Carson has already participated in a couple of fun activities at school too. His class Valentine Party. (I love that the teacher already knows my guy and put him at a table full of girls to keep him on task!):

Friday was "Go Texan Day" where kids are encouraged to wear western attire. I have never been a big fan of a cowboy, but my cutie may have converted me:
Just a couple of weeks until Spring Break. I hate that I am on bedrest and can't take him to do anything super exciting during his first official Spring Break, but I am thinking he will be more than happy to hang out with all of his new friends. (And I'm sure he will make up for this Spring Break in his college years!)

Deacon's Valentines

Deacon's class is filled with toddlers, so I thought something other than candy would be best for his exchange. What kid doesn't like goldfish??

This project was so cheap; I spent less than $10 for two boxes of goldfish, bags, and tags! I printed these as 4x6 pictures at Walgreens and cut them in half, but also included a larger blank version if you want to make your own message. (To steal: click picture, right click and choose "save picture as")

Carson's Valentines

I am obsessed with pinterest and have boards dedicated to crafts for each holiday. I am scared to recreate any of the gifts I have found out of fear that someone else will have seen it and will be making the same one (kind of like not wanting to show up to an event in the same outfit lol). So for now, I use them as inspiration for craftiness, but still do my own thing.

For Carson's Valentine party next week I decided to hit up my favorite dollar store: Dollar Tree and found these adorable bobble head robots. At $1 each, I spent less than $30 to get a candy robot for each kid in his class.
I wasn't a big fan of the nutrition label on the tube, so instead of trying to peel each one off, I used shipping labels (2 inch x 4 inch) and covered them up.

Next, using shutterfly studio and pinterest I created 4x6 cards to cut in half and attach with ribbon. I was torn between 2 different sayings and decided to go with the top one, but included the other one if you like it better. You should be able to click the image to make it larger, right click and choose "save as" to download on your computer, then just add your child's name. I had them printed at Walgreens for less than $5.

Carson's 1st Day of Kindergarten - Take 2

Carson started school in the district where I work, and was super lucky to have been accepted into the dual language program. Due to my bed rest it will be close to impossible to drive him 45 minutes to and from school there. We made the tough decision to move him into the elementary where our neighborhood is zoned.

He, along with us, has had mixed emotions about the transition. He loves his teachers and friends at his old school, and was really excited to be learning Spanish. But, his new school is only a couple of minutes from our house (which means not having to spend two hours in the car each day and getting home close to dark), he will get to go to school with friends from our neighborhood, and in his opinion, the best benefit is that he gets to ride the school bus home each day! The dress codes are fairly similar, both schools requiring collared shirts, but his old school allowed it to have patterns and pictures, his new school only solid colors with logo smaller than a quarter. But, his new school doesn't require shirts to be tucked in (notice how excited he is about this in his picture).

We waited until yesterday to withdraw him from his old school because it was class picture day and we wanted to be sure he would get one and also be in their yearbook. Brian picked him up early yesterday so that he could complete the necessary paperwork, and said Carson cried in the office and on the way home. :( He also cried himself to sleep last night, making my heart break for him.

Luckily, Carson has never been a shy kid and has always been able to make friends easily, so we made sure to talk that up last night and before school today. He was all enrolled by 10:00am this morning, and even saw our neighbor, James in the hallway before going in to meet his new class and teacher.

This afternoon, he was all smiles! When asked how his first day was and he said "GREAT!" He already made a new friend (couldn't remember his name, of course) that showed him the ropes, ate tacos and an ice cream sandwich at lunch ("tasted even better" than his old school), got to run and play basketball in PE, and "didn't get any homework!" It is not even 4:00, and he is already outside playing with the kids from the neighborhood!

It is such a relief that today went so well. Thank God for making children so adaptable to change!

Carson's 100th Day

Carson has already been in school for 100 days! As a celebration, all of the kindergarteners get to have a parade through the school sporting homemade shirts. The only instructions we were given was to be creative and represent the number 100. So here is what we came up with:

100 football beads (purchased at Hobby Lobby) each individually glued (Aleene's Super Thick Tacky Glue). Carson loved it, and we all placed bets last night to see how many footballs would still be on it by the time he got home from school. Carson guessed 10, Brian said 73, and I am hoping for 85.

Carson's Kindergarten Christmas

Carson's school had Supper with Santa before the break, where the Kindergartners also performed Christmas carols. Prior to the main event, he played at some of the craft tables they had set up.

Cookie decorating:

Door hanger:

Look at that handwriting! :)

Carson's class was absolutely adorable at their performance!!

Belting in out!

This picture is my ABSOLUTE favorite:

The kid on the top row totally reminds me of Will Ferrell in the ELF: "The best way to spread Christmas cheers is singing loud for all to hear!" I also love the kid next to Carson who is covering his face crying, and the boy in the front row who looks like he is asleep! Did I mention how stinkin' cute Kindergartners are?!?

Carson had quite the crowd there to watch him! Grandpa, Grandma, Daryl, Brian, Deacon, and me.

As you can see Deacon was either mesmerized by the music or the Cheetos...

Carson also had a class party the last day of school before Christmas Break. Brian and I had to work, so my mother went to help out. The night before, we made fruit kabobs to contribute to the party and they were a hit!

Carson had a great time!

This was my favorite picture from the party, Carson (who looks absolutely adorable) and his friend Everett.

It's times like these that I wish I could be a stay-at-home/room mom, but I am so glad we have family to attend the functions along with us or in place of us!

Halloween 2011

The holiday season has officially been kicked off with Halloween!

Another teacher and I are Student Council Sponsors at my school, and this was our first dance of the year to host our annual costume themed "Boo Bash." I initially ordered a costume online, but when it came in, it was like every other female costume: way too hoochie, especially to wear to a school function. I decided to go for Plan B, a stolen idea from pinterest. Can you guess what we are?


Paper, Rock, Scissors! :)

Brian was super sweet to bring the boys up to the dance to get their groove on. I was afraid it might be too loud, but Deacon absolutely loved it! (Notice him behind us in the pic above.)

Carson had fun dancing and eating pizza too.

On Halloween, we passed out glow bracelets (from Michael's for only $1 for 15, plus my teacher discount of 15% off ). Deacon stayed with Brian to pass them out, while the neighbors and I took the kids trick-or-treating.

By the time we rounded the corner back to our house, Carson's bag was overflowing, so he had to take off his mask and use it to collect candy in!

He has enough candy to last him a while!

Carson's 1st School Photo

Don't you love the embarrassing school photos from your past, with lighting that shows every imperfection, and a photographer who doesn't wait until your ready before snapping away, or tilts your head to some awkward angle???

Well luckily, our Big C is completely adorable, regardless of where he is being photographed!

This may be the last school photo we have for a while with a mouth full of teeth, now that he is approaching 6!

Carson's Kindergarten

Last week was Carson's Parent/Teacher Conference at school. I got to sit down with each teacher and find out how he is doing. While I waited for my turn, I snapped a few pictures of his work that was hanging in the hallway with my phone.

His homeroom/English-speaking/Reading Teacher said he has adjusted well, both academically and behaviorally. He gets along well with the kids, and she has learned the best place for him to work is next to the hard-working girls in class.
Next was his Spanish-speaking/Math Teacher. She said Carson is starting to really pick up Spanish words. ALL of the numbers and shapes they learn are taught in Spanish, so luckily math is his strong point so that he won't miss out while learning them. He has already to count to 29 and can name the triangle, rectangle, square, and circle in Spanish.
So far, he loves school! I have no trouble waking him up in the morning, and he usually passes the time on our hour drive each way by playing games on my phone.

*His best friend at school is named Savy and they play 'silverblades' (no clue) and army outside at recess.

*A little girl named Peyton told him the first week of school that he is her boyfriend whether he likes it or not. After he tried to argue a few times, he has finally given in and agreed, even though he still says that he isn't. haha

*Carson's favorite breakfast served at school is pancakes, and favorite lunch is nachos. His favorite flavor milk has a purple lid and he says it takes like ice cream.

*He is still our social butterfly, and because of this gotten a couple of conduct marks for touching other students and talking in the hallway. We have tried to balance the line of telling him that conduct marks are unacceptable, while trying not to stress him out too bad when he gets them. Last week was the first full week that he was conduct mark free!